Ha Il-kwon started making webtoons almost by accident. He was studying animation in college with the hope of becoming an animation director. One day, while he was looking for jobs, he heard some older college friends griping about their careers at an animation company. They said the industry was in bad shape and that they were sick of their jobs. As Ha was wondering whether he should stop looking for work at an animation company, he got some unexpected feedback from a friend who had watched a short animation that Ha had done as a class assignment: The friend told him the story would be more suitable for a long-form comic.

That simple compliment made Ha think he might have a future in comics. It was around that time that Kang Full¡¯s comic ¡°Sunjeong Manhwa (Romantic Comic)¡± was at the peak of its popularity, and Ha himself had been appreciating the charms of the webtoon medium. ¡°The reason I dreamed of becoming an animation director was because I wanted to make my own stories and show them to other people. So, I figured that webtoons would be a perfect fit for me, given their simplicity. Anyone with some interesting ideas can become a webtoon artist, and you don¡¯t have to follow the traditional steps required for entering the comic or animation industries.¡±

His friend¡¯s observation encouraged Ha to submit his class piece to a webtoon website. Soon, he was on his way to a serialized webtoon, launching his career as an artist before he¡¯d even graduated from university.

After that, Ha gained a reputation as a webtoon artist who was always worth reading, since his readers were happy with pretty much all his work. The thing they found most enchanting was probably his webtoons¡¯ novelty. He tackled unusual topics such as a barber shop with a cure for those afflicted by lookism (¡°Sambong Barber Shop¡±), a high school student testing out a humanoid robot (¡°3-Part Transformation, Kim Chang-nam¡±), a man who wants to become the world¡¯s best bathhouse scrubber (¡°God of Bath¡±) and students who undertake military training to gain an edge in university admissions (¡°Duty after School¡±).

Ha always kept an eye out for novel stories to tell from his everyday life. Whether he was eating a meal or meeting up with a friend, he was always asking himself whether a given situation would make an interesting story, or whether a given person would make a good character. And whenever that ongoing search produced a spark of inspiration, he would furiously brainstorm and jot down all his thoughts to make sure the spark didn¡¯t go to waste.

¡°I came up with the idea for ¡®God of Bath¡¯ while I was at the sauna. When I entered the sauna bathhouse early in the morning, I got this wonderful feeling, as if the whole space belonged to me. Just as I was thinking how nice it would be if I were the actual owner, my creative juices started flowing for a new series. I did as much brainstorming as I could to ensure I didn¡¯t squander the moment of inspiration and then went outside and wrote it all down,¡± Ha says.

One thing hooking Ha¡¯s readers is the creativity of his artistic arrangement. ¡°The Sound of Magic: Annarasumanara¡± emphasizes the dreamworld by presenting it in color, while the reality is left in grayscale. The background music of ¡°Be Still My Heart¡± is actually an original composition sent in by a fan. In ¡°GOGOGO,¡± the characters move as you scroll, and at certain points, sound effects play and the screen zooms in or out. That was all made possible by the webtoon editor that Ha created in partnership with Naver, realizing editing techniques that Ha himself had proposed. The series ¡°Came Across¡± is an interactive webtoon that lets readers choose how the story unfolds. Ha has experimented with all kinds of artistic techniques, such as letting readers change the comic style by uploading a portrait of themselves that can serve as the face of the main character and inserting readers¡¯ names into the webtoon.

¡°I¡¯ve done a lot of work with Naver, which hosts my webtoons to experiment on a technical level. That¡¯s been challenging, but definitely fun as well. The reason I¡¯ve worked so hard is because I wanted to make my work more original, since that makes it more interesting. Webtoons may have a short history, but you can sense the artistic techniques being formalized,¡± Ha remarks.

Ha has helped nail down the techniques used in presenting webtoons and also proven the potential for new developments in the genre by integrating various techniques.

One simple idea underlies all of Ha¡¯s many endeavors: the sheer fun of it. Although nearly twenty years have passed since he got into webtoons, he still finds the art form fun. ¡°For me, webtoons are a type of window to society. They¡¯re my way of communicating with and relating to people. So, while I obviously get tired and exhausted sometimes, I could never hate webtoons. Even now, they¡¯re just enjoyable for me. I guess my love of webtoons is what¡¯s kept me in this line of work for so long,¡± he says.

Another thing that keeps Ha at his desk is the joy he brings to his readers. He¡¯s not necessarily looking for some incredible or profound reaction. A simple comment of ¡°lol¡± can bring him boundless energy. ¡°Webtoons are only meaningful when there¡¯s someone to read them. That¡¯s why my readers¡¯ reactions are everything to me. Getting a positive reaction from readers serves as confirmation that becoming a webtoon artist was a good choice,¡± he says.

When I ask Ha about his goals, he says he¡¯d like to keep making a living from webtoons, despite the difficulties that might entail. When he mentions these ¡°difficulties,¡± I can perceive the lonely struggle that goes into the creation of webtoons. It seems clear that Ha is the kind of artist whose webtoons will continue to surprise and delight future readers, as they¡¯ve always done so far.

Ha is currently working on ¡°The Game Store Below the Barber Shop,¡± a webtoon set in the same fictional world as his debut series, Sambong Barber Shop. The series is a coming-of-age story about teenagers and Ha¡¯s beloved video games. If you¡¯re looking for something fresh to enliven your routine, you can¡¯t go wrong checking out Ha¡¯s new series.